Residents of Mexico's southern Pacific coast were caught off guard as Hurricane Otis made landfall as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds and heavy rain. The storm rapidly intensified by 115 mph in just 24 hours, a feat only matched by one other storm in recorded history. Residents scrambled to prepare for the five to 10 inches of rain forecast, with as much as 15 inches possible in some areas, raising the threat of landslides and floods. The National Hurricane Center is continuing to monitor the situation and provide updates.
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The Biden administration has made adjustments to the entertainment portion of Wednesday's state dinner for Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, replacing the B-52s performance with a string quartet. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Albanese are set to hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office before a joint press conference. The change in entertainment is a sign of respect for those affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as the Biden administration has been vocal in its support for a ceasefire and an end to the violence.
Mark Meadows, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, has been granted immunity to testify before a federal grand jury regarding Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows reportedly told prosecutors that Trump was being "dishonest" when he first claimed to have won the election and that he had informed Trump several times that the voting fraud allegations were unfounded. Meadows had at least three meetings with special counsel Jack Smith's team in 2021.
The Federal Court of Australia has ruled in favor of passengers of the Ruby Princess cruise, finding that Carnival and its subsidiary Princess Cruises had been negligent in their duty of care to passengers by allowing the cruise to depart in the early months of the pandemic. The ruling found that Carnival had failed to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of passengers, and that the cruise operator had been aware of the risks posed by the pandemic. The outcome of the case will be determined at a later date.
Desus Nice of "The Daily Show" recently joked about the GOP's failed attempt to nominate Tom Emmer as House Speaker, as he was unable to secure the near-unanimous support needed to win the gavel. The party has now nominated Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as their new nominee, but it is still uncertain if he can gain the necessary 217 Republican votes.
Connor Bowman, a Minnesota doctor and former Mayo Clinic resident, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder for allegedly poisoning his wife, Betty Bowman, who died in August. An autopsy revealed that Betty died from toxic effects of colchicine, a medicine used to treat gout. Police found that the two were having financial and marital troubles and that Connor would receive a life insurance payout from her death.
This article discusses the recent escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of Palestinians killed in airstrikes by Israel in response to rocket launches from Syria. The Israeli Defense Forces have killed Taysir Mubasher, the former commander of the naval force of Hamas, and are preparing for a ground offensive. The international community has called for an end to the violence, but the conflict continues to escalate.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that a rocket fired by Palestinian militants, not Israel, was responsible for the deadly blast at Gaza's Al-Ahli hospital last week. Using signals intercepts, multiple video sources, photographs and geolocation technologies, they have "high confidence" in their assessment. This has caused tensions to flare across the Middle East, with calls for an independent investigation into the incident.